Bio-function Summary of Marine Oligosaccharides

Marine ecosystems can be considered as a rather unexplored source of drugs as well as a surprising reservoir of bioactive oligosaccharide. Marine oligosaccharides could be obtained by hydrolysis of polysaccharide existing in a variety of biomass sources or synthesized by simple oligosaccharides. In recent years, marine oligosaccharides which degraded by polysaccharides are attracting increasing interest in developing potential drugs for chronic diseases. Significant efforts have been made to find and confirm their bioactivity such as anti-tumor, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and so on. In this review, the mechanisms of bio-function eliciting kinds of applications of different marine oligosaccharides are summarized.